


Maknae On Top

by hyunshalo



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Age Swap, Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Everyone Loves Yang Jeongin | I.N, Gen, I swear I’m usually better at writing than this, Worried Stray Kids Ensemble, Yang Jeongin | I.N-centric, and has a character switch dream, anyway enjoy i guess, bangchan best leader, but also every time tina from glee bumps her head, im psychic, jeongin world domination, kind of bad lol but maknae on top, kind of based off that one tracy beaker episode, maknae on top, stray kids - Freeform, the way I started writing this and then maknae on top dropped today I’m acc psychic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:16:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28782579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunshalo/pseuds/hyunshalo
Summary: Jeongin was tired of being the youngest, being themaknae, having people treat him like a child and not letting him grow up, so you can imagine his excitement when, after bumping his head during practice, Jeongin is suddenly transported to a reality where he was the oldest and the leader of Stray Kids. However, was the power of being in charge all it was cracked up to be?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 87





	Maknae On Top

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: I swear I’m psychic idek anymore man. I started writing this yesterday and then maknae on top dropped today of all days, I should be in shock but this kind of thing happens to me more than you’d think :) anyway... I hope you enjoy, it’s not my best work but I wanted to try actually writing a oneshot for once instead of dragging it out into twelve chapters... okay ty <3

The age old argument whether the oldest, youngest or middle child had it the worst wouldn’t ever settle. It was much like if you were to have an argument with your own siblings: ongoing and never ending. Oldest siblings would argue they have to bear the brunt of _responsibilities_ and _obligations_ , being the first to do everything: first to finish school, first to get a job, and in most cases, first to get married or be punished with children. Youngest siblings would argue they had it the worst, never being taken seriously, feeling like their older siblings were moonlighting as their pseudo-parents, sometimes more strict than their actual parents. I would argue to the ends of the Earth, though, that the true victims here were the middle children, who are condemned to what I call: sibling purgatory. Middle children were often invisible, forgotten about until they did something that forced attention. Some saw this as a blessing, others as a curse, but for the most part all of us knew we were our parents’ favourite. Jeongin understood this feeling all too well, being the middle son of three. Maybe that was why he was desperate to become an idol; to make an identification for himself. That’s what we did, us middle children, we did whatever we could to make a name for ourselves, to get out of our older sibling’s shadow and away from being a _role model_ for our younger sibling. Jeongin’s parents weren’t happy at all, that Jeongin wanted to leave Busan and pursue a career as a Kpop idol, but after he showed them how hard he was willing to work and how much effort he put into it, they gave him a chance to prove himself. A handful of years later, Jeongin was happily debuted in a group with seven other guys he was proud to call his brothers. One thing that Jeongin never expected, however, when he was accepted as a trainee, was that he would be the youngest of his group, the _maknae_. Honestly, Jeongin didn’t mind being the youngest. The other members didn’t make him feel the age gap as much. Well, most of the time. Of course, there were moments where things would get tense and the odd comment would slip past someone’s lips, reminding Jeongin that despite the friendly nature of his relationship with all of Stray Kids, he was still the youngest, the maknae. This was one of those nights.

Stray Kids were preparing for a comeback, for it was a new year and, as Chan always said to them: ‘ _A new year means new music_ ’. It was way-too-late o’clock at night, when Chan clapped his hands together, calling the group back onto their feet as their five minute break had ended far quicker than they yearned for. Tiredly, the group took their positions so they could run through the choreography once again. I say once, but it was definitely more than once. Partway into one of the run-throughs, Minho stopped the group because he wanted to make a _minor_ change to the choreography. He wanted to include a moment of floor-work. Jeongin spent a great deal of time and effort into working out so he would have enough strength and muscle to do moves such as floor-work, but whether it was due to practising intensely for a number of hours so he was drained of energy or a sheer lack of practicing the move, Jeongin couldn’t seem to get it down. The others had no issue, though, Jeongin being the only one who couldn’t keep on beat and constantly confused the direction in which he would move to the next formation. He felt like he was back on the survival show, struggling to get the _Hellevator_ choreography down, as everyone watched him flounder. Chan called for another break, the group dispersing to separate corners of the room, as Chan beckoned Jeongin over to him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jeongin breathed out heavily, rolling his shoulders. “I think I just need to run through it a few more times.”

Chan hesitated, analysing the younger boy. “Hmm, I think you should go home. You need to rest, you have school in the morning.” 

Jeongin shook his head, vehemently. “No, it’s okay, hyung. I can keep going.”

“IN.” Chan spoke pointedly. “I really think you need some sleep. You’ve been here for hours. Go to bed.” It wasn’t often that Chan used his authoritative _leader_ voice, so when he did, the boys knew he was being serious. But Jeongin didn’t care. 

“We’ve _all_ been here for hours, though. Why am I the only one being sent home? Is it because I keep messing up? I’m sorry, hyung, I’ll work harder-“

“Hey, I’m not _sending you home_. What am I, your principal?” Chan chuckled lightly, before regaining his solemn demeanour. “You just look a bit worn out, that’s all. And, like I said, you have school in the morning. I don’t want you to pass out from a lack of rest.” When it came to his members’ health, Chan didn’t play around. 

It was beyond anyone’s comprehension, to be able to explain what happened next. Maybe Chan was right, and Jeongin was worn out to the point of delirium, because he was sure that if Jeongin was in his right mind, he wouldn’t have said what he said next. “You’re not my principal, but you’re also not my father, Chan-hyung.” Hyunjin’s hand holding his water bottle froze mid-air as he was about to take a sip and Felix’s eyes bugged out of his skull, the two of them having heard the exchange of words, shocked at the last sentence. Chan was shocked too, blinking a couple of times as if that would help him hear with more clarity, a look of disbelief moulding his features. Jeongin realised what he had said, and he also realised that he had two options: either apologise profusely and go home, or finish what he started. You can assume he chose the latter. “I am twenty-one, aren’t I? I’m an adult, aren’t I? I’m not even supposed to be in school, at my age, though that’s how my life has worked out. I might still be a student, but I’m also an adult. Aren’t I? I’ve been an adult for an entire year. Can I not be responsible for my own actions? Can I not be responsible for my own health? I know my limits, Chan-hyung, better than anyone else, and that includes you.”

Chan licked his lips, taking in a calming breath, determined not to let things escalate further than they needed to go. “Jeongin. I’m not your principal, and I’m not your father. But I am the leader of this group, and I’m your elder. When I think one of you needs to go home and rest, I will tell you to go home and rest. It has nothing to do with your age. I’m just doing my job as leader.” 

“Leader...” Jeongin accidentally scoffed under his breath. Chan’s eyebrows shot up, convinced he must have fallen into a fever dream. 

“What was that?” He demanded, now gaining the attention of the entire room. “Why did you say it like that? What are you trying to say?” Jeongin bit down on his bottom lip, keeping his words at bay. “No, go ahead, I want to hear this. You’ve never questioned my leadership skills before, I’d like your feedback.” 

“I’m not... I’m not questioning you, at all. I understand you have authority over me, as my hyung and the leader. But, you make it sound like being a leader gives you the right to boss my personal decisions. To make judgements on my wellbeing, despite me telling you I’m fine. If I decide I want to spend more time rehearsing, so we get our choreography perfect, that’s my business. If I decide not to go to school tomorrow and sleep in, that’s my business. You say it has nothing to do with age, but you don’t baby any of the others like you do with me.”

“That’s not true-“

“Isn’t it?” Jeongin challenged. “You’re sending _me_ home, even though _Changbin-hyung_ is the one who’s passed out over there.” They all turned to see Changbin was indeed knocked out cold, laying on one of the couches they kept in the practice room. Minho crawled over from where he was sitting cross legged on the floor and raised one of Changbin’s arms to make him slap himself, causing the boy to jolt awake. Chan sighed in disapproval, while the others chuckled to themselves. Jeongin titled his head at Chan who merely stared at him. “You never take anything I say seriously-“

“That’s not fair-“

“-and I know you still see me as that same fourteen year old boy who knows nothing about anything, when actually I know quite a lot. I have good ideas, hyung, and you would know that if you actually listened to me! Everything always has to go your way. Okay, no, you’re right, it’s unfair to say you don’t take some of our ideas into account, but only if it fits whatever you had in mind in the first place. You know, if I was the leader, I would actually _properly_ listen to my members, and not treat my twenty-year old maknae _like a maknae_!” 

How a simple suggestion from Chan, that Jeongin should go home and rest, had spiralled into Jeongin opening up a floodgate, was beyond everyone. The room was heavy with silence, none of the bystanders knowing how it would play out. When Chan was angry, he didn’t shout or scream or yell. He was the quiet type of angry, the type where you could feel his anger radiate off him and he didn’t even need to look your way, Minho swearing it was scarier than if he was to blow up into a loud rampage. Chan’s eyes were burning into Jeongin’s, who was finally sobering up enough to soak in the words he let spill out. Taking another step forward, the oldest of the group spoke gravely. “Go home, and go to bed. We’ll talk about this in the morning when you’ve calmed down.” Chan began to walk away, before almost tripping over his feet at what he heard next. 

“No.”

Quicker than lightning, Chan swung his body back again, wondering if he transported into a parallel universe. “No?”

“No.” Jeongin said with finality, his hands balled up into fists. “I’m not tired, and I haven’t gotten the choreography. I’m going to stay and practise until I get it right. You can’t kick me out, you don’t own the building.” Moving back into his position, Jeongin attempted to do the move again but, as expected, his knees bent awkwardly and he fell onto his elbows. 

“IN.” 

He tried again, but this time he started on the wrong foot, resulting in him turning in the opposite direction, which would have caused him to fall into Seungmin (who was watching the whole ordeal utterly confused how quickly the mood had changed). 

“Jeongin...”

Giving it another go, he would have performed the move perfectly, if he didn’t have someone screaming at him, messing the beat up in his head (or, so he thought, forgetting that the music had been paused and he was off beat from the start).

“Yang Jeongin!” 

“Hyung!” Minho interjected, deciding someone should finally get in the middle. “Why don’t we just go back to the original choreography?”

“No, this isn’t about the choreography anymore. This is about Jeongin not respecting his elders and his seniors.” Chan grit his teeth, watching the boy attempt the move over and over, failing every time. “What’s gotten into him? Jeongin!”

For some reason, this final time Chan had called his name sent an odd chill through Jeongin’s spine, causing him to lose balance as he transitioned into the move. Jeongin’s feet pushed out from under him, the floor getting dangerously close to his face until, suddenly, there was a loud sound of impact, and everything went black before the pain could even set in.

“Oh my god, is he okay?”

“Why is he not waking up? It’s been a few minutes. Does he have a concussion?” 

“Everyone, shut up. Hey, Jeongin-hyung? Wake up.” 

_Jeongin-hyung?_

Eyes shooting open, Jeongin sat up immediately, something that proved to be a big mistake as the jarring lighting of the practice room burned his corneas and a stinging pain ran from the bridge of his nose through his forehead. Jisung was quick to press an ice pack to his head, Jeongin thanking him before holding onto it himself. He noticed that he was now laying down on the sofa that Changbin was sleeping on moments before, the others crowding around him. Jisung looked at him concernedly. “Hyung, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay- wait, wait, did you just call me _hyung_?” Jeongin stared at him with wide eyes, causing Jisung to crease his eyebrows with a nod. “What’s... what are you doing? Why did you? So random…” 

Jisung exchanged a look with Seungmin, who just shrugged in response, as Jeongin muttered to himself. Jisung turned back, sighing. “Okay, I think you hit your head really hard. Should we take you to the emergency room?”

“No, I said I was fine.” Jeongin shuffled along the couch, lifting onto his feet. Steadying himself, he rubbed his eyes before catching the others watching him cautiously. “What?”

“Hyung, are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor?” Felix offered.

“Again with the hyung, is this supposed to be some lesson about _respecting your elders_ or something?” Jeongin avoided Chan’s eye contact, feeling embarrassed for blowing up at him earlier. Chan seemed to be avoiding his gaze too. “And, I said I’m fine. I can make my own decisions, for the love of god. I might be _Baby Bread_ but I’m not a baby. Why does no one listen to me?”

“ _Baby Bread?_ ” Hyunjin blew air out of his cheeks. “Whatever you say, you’re the boss.”

“You don’t need to be sarcastic about it.” Jeongin rolled his eyes, before squeezing them shut as that movement just irritated the pain more. 

Hyunjin gave him an odd look before replying, shocking Jeongin like he zapped him with a ripped up cable. “ _Bro, I wasn’t? You wanna lie down again? You look like you’re gonna puke_.” 

Jeongin’s face paled, a look as if he had seen a ghost washing over it. He raised a trembling hand, pointing towards Hyunjin. “W-why do you have an Australian accent? And... why do I-I understand what you’re saying? Completely?” Jeongin paused, an idea crossing his mind. “ _G’day everyone_.” He slammed a hand to his mouth, the others at this point silently discussing in their heads who should call the doctor. “ _Why can I speak English? With an Aussie accent-_ What the hell is happening?”

“Yeah, no, someone call the doctor. He’s clearly got a concussion or something.” Jisung stated, Changbin immediately bringing his phone to his ear. 

Once the doctor left, deciding Jeongin’s health was intact, the group agreed to end for the night and head home. Jisung threw Chan his coat. “When we get back, just go to bed straight away. No arguments. We‘ll discuss what happened tonight after we get some sleep.“ Chan let out a heavy breath, but nodded nonetheless, feeling bad that Jeongin slipped because of him. Jeongin spent the entire car ride trying to process what had happened and apply a logical explanation for what was occurring. He finally came to the conclusion that they were all playing a joke on him, so the next course of action was to simply ignore them until they got bored and moved on. They always did. _That doesn’t explain your sudden bilingualism_ , he thought to himself in an overly exaggerated Sydney accent. Jeongin tapped the top of his head firmly a few times, as if his fluency in English would leave his brain and fall out of his ears. The car rolled to a stop, and they tumbled out of the vehicle like zombies, everyone so tired they were ready to pass out in the street. 

The next morning, Jeongin woke up earlier than he expected to but didn’t think much of it. Surprisingly, he felt more refreshed than he should have been, but it gave him a good mood, feeling like the day would be at least half-decent. Even if it meant he had to go to... school. Hopping off the bed, he noticed how he wasn’t in his usual bedroom, the one he shared with Jisung. Instead, on the bottom bunk of the bed he just came from was Hyunjin in Felix’s bed, and he spun around to see Seungmin in Changbin’s. _Weird_ , he thought to himself, _everyone must have been so tired we all fell asleep in each other’s beds_. That same Australian accent that haunted him was still there, Jeongin jumping up and down on the spot to shake it away, heading into the shower. He recollected his memories of the night before, still utterly confused on the second half of the events that occurred, especially the part where Hyunjin could speak English fluently with an Australian accent. It was probably a side effect of him hitting his head, he decided. There was still the matter, though, of facing the repercussions for talking back to Chan, a conversation he was greatly dreading. 

Stepping into his room quietly, Jeongin observed that Minho was snuggled up in Jisung’s covers, but his own bed was empty. Not giving it a second thought, he went to his wardrobe to retrieve his school uniform, but it was nowhere to be found. He frowned, muttering incoherencies to himself while searching the rest of the room. Scratching a hand through his hair, he convinced himself that maybe it was drying in the living room, though he couldn’t remember putting it in the wash. Jeongin trudged out of his bedroom, passing the kitchen before freezing on the spot. Pivoting slowly, like the second hand of a clock which moved in a staggered manner, Jeongin back tracked so he could see who the figure in the kitchen was. Popping his head through the doorway, he saw Chan was sitting at the dining table with a bowl of cornflakes, watching a YouTube video on his phone. “What are you doing?”

Chan startled at Jeongin’s voice, dropping his phone face down on the table. “Oh, hyung, you’re awake early. Are you going to the gym?” If Jeongin’s jaw dropped any further it would have unhinged itself from his face. 

“Hyung, what the hell is this?” Jeongin demanded, rushing into the room at a rapid pace. 

Chan let out an amused laugh. “Why are you calling me hyung?”

“No, why are _you_ calling _me_ hyung? No, never mind that, the more pressing question is, why are you wearing my school uniform?!” 

Gazing down, Chan tugged at the yellow SOPA blazer he was donning before blinking rapidly at Jeongin’s flabbergasted expression. “Jeongin-hyung, are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital? You haven’t been to school in over five years.”

Suddenly, Jeongin slapped himself. 

“Hyung!” Chan gasped, Jeongin slapping his other cheek. 

“Wake up, Yang Jeongin. You’re just dreaming. You need to wake up before dream-you loses his mind.” He rambled to himself, continuing to assault his own face. Seungmin entered the room, at this point, his face scrunched up tiredly. 

“Seungmin-hyung.” Chan called him over, worriedly. “I don’t think Jeongin-hyung is okay.” Seungmin pulled a face at the scene in front of him, Jeongin getting more rabid by the second. 

“I’m serious, wake up right now. I said wake up, wake up, goddamn it!” Jeongin cursed way too loudly for that hour of the morning. Alarmed, Seungmin crossed the room to hold Jeongin arms down so he would stop. 

“Hyung? What’s going on?” Changbin decided to join the party, the commotion stirring him awake, followed by Felix and Jisung. 

“I’m going crazy...” Jeongin whined, falling onto the couch pitifully. Seungmin ordered Chan to get Jeongin some water, the others discussing the situation amongst themselves. Jeongin thanked him and took a sip, as well as a beat. Eyes scanning the others who watched him with concern, Jeongin stood up again. “Okay, I get it, this is a prank, right? You’re playing a joke on me for how I acted yesterday? Okay, okay.” He turned to Chan and dropped onto his knees. “I’m sorry, Chan-hyung, for the way I acted yesterday. I spoke to you disrespectfully and I was completely out of line. Please accept my apology. Now, can you all stop this.”

Silence fell over them, everyone convinced everyone else had lost the plot. Chan didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what to do. Clearing his throat, he finally mustered up some words. “But, I’m the one that did wrongly yesterday.”

“What?” Jeongin breathed, feeling like he could cry out of frustration. 

“I’m the one that disrespected you, and didn’t follow your orders as leader and... caused you to slip and hit your head. Sorry, hyung.” Chan dipped his own head in shame, muttering an apology. Jeongin was convinced he had fallen into a comic book, or something, because he had no idea what was going. 

“Did you just call me _leader_?”

Jisung weaved his way over and helped Jeongin to his feet, despite looking like he barely had the strength to stand. “Chan, you should go to school now. You two can discuss this when you get back.” Chan bowed formally to everyone and made his leave, the others contemplating if they should call the doctor again. Hyunjin and Minho came in as Chan was leaving, and Changbin brought them up to speed on what was happening. 

“Well, maybe he lost his memory or something.” Hyunjin suggested. “Or, when he hit his head, he started getting things confused.”

Jeongin pulled a face. “Hyunjin-hyung, don’t tell me you’re in on this too.” 

Hyunjin chuckled with humour. “ _Since when do you call me Hyunjin_?”

Jeongin stared at him. “Since when do I not?”

“Sam, stop it for now, he’s not in his right mind.” Changbin sighed, looking online for symptoms of concussion, and if delusions were one of them. 

_Sam?! Who, the hell, is Sam?!_

“When are you going to give this up? I apologised, I know I messed up. I’m sorry. Please, I’m begging you stop.” Jeongin pleaded, just as Changbin found a website on symptoms of being concussed, and started reading them out. 

“Nothing about delusions... maybe he should just go back to bed. Sleep it off.” 

“That sounds like a good idea. He can sleep in my bed, instead of climbing up to the top bunk.” Hyunjin offered, him and Jisung dragging Jeongin back to the room. 

An hour had passed and Jeongin was wide awake. His mind was a jumbled mess, trying to think of a plausible explanation for what was going on. At this point, he came to the conclusion that they were either totally adamant on driving him completely insane or they were being genuine. Jeongin sat up, groaning as he hit the top of his head on the bunk bed frame, before getting onto his feet. Pacing the room, he spoke aloud to himself. “Let’s say this isn’t a prank, and that I have somehow magically transported into another realm where I am the leader of Stray Kids and the oldest- just saying it out loud is so bizarre.” He bit his bottom lip in thought. “And Chan-hyung is a student... wearing my uniform... no way... is this some kind of _Freaky Friday_ business, without the switching bodies part? Why do I know the movie _Freaky Friday_? Why do I remember watching it when I was younger? No... this can’t be... I refuse... but... it makes sense... no, it doesn’t actually, but there’s no other explanation... what do I do?” He dropped onto Changbin’s bed, burying his face in his hands. Another thought crossed his mind. “Hyunjin-hyung. Hyunjin-hyung can speak English and he has an Australian accent... and Changbin-hyung called him Sam... does that mean Felix-hyung and Hyunjin-hyung... oh my god.” Shooting up, Jeongin started pacing again. “Okay so, I’m Chan-hyung and Chan-hyung is me. And, Hyunjin-hyung is Felix-hyung and, vice versa. So... what about the others?” Jeongin paused recalling from earlier. “Chan-hyung called Seungmin-hyung hyung... well, of course he would if he’s the maknae, but who did Seungmin-hyung swap with.” 

A knock sounded on the door, Hyunjin opening it slightly. He startled to Jeongin was standing in the middle of the room. “ _Hey, I made breakfast, if you want any. How you feeling?_ ”

“ _You made breakfast?_ ” Jeongin blurted out, not even realising he was using English. Hyunjin nodded, gesturing for Jeongin to come back into the dining room. The only other people in there were Changbin, Felix and Minho, Jisung and Seungmin having decided to go back to bed. Jeongin realised that would be the perfect time to work out who had switched with who. But first... “I think that nap was a good shout, I feel so much better. Definitely helped me get my head back on right.” He figured he should just go with the new plot, instead of having a never-ending back and forth about Jeongin needing medical attention for going loopy. 

Minho smiled, taking another spoonful of his cereal. “That’s good, hyung, because we need to go to the studio soon. Finish that song we were working on yesterday.” 

Jeongin paused. “Song? Which one, exactly? Because, you know, I’m part of 3RACHA so I’m always... making songs...” 

“The one Seungmin-hyung started the lyrics for.” Minho explained, finishing off his bowl. “Hurry up and eat, I’ll go wake him up so we can go.” So, Jeongin, Minho and Seungmin were 3RACHA? Interesting, Jeongin thought, as Hyunjin set down a plate of egg fried rice in front of him. Thanking him, Jeongin took a bite and was pleasantly surprised by the mixture of flavours, grateful he possessed Felix’s cooking abilities too. 

Jeongin never realised how fun producing songs could be. Well, he knew how it felt, as he had contributed to songs in the past, such as the _Mixtapes_ and _My Universe_ but having complete and total artistic freedom over the songs they would sing? He felt powerful. Really powerful. It was so satisfying, for him to finally have control over something like this, to prove that he could do just as much as Chan could. Minho and Seungmin had amazing ideas, too, and they bounced off each other like rubber. They seemed to have gained 3RACHA’s craft for making music, as Jeongin found it unbelievably easy to compose the backing tracks, as if the melodies and beats were his native language. He realised that Minho had swapped with Jisung as the whole time he was just eating gummy sweets, having finished writing out half a song in under an hour, while Seungmin was definitely Changbin, randomly bursting into _aegyo_ every time he felt like he needed a break, which didn’t half disturb Jeongin. They were having so much fun, Jeongin didn’t even realise it had reached lunch time. They quickly rushed to the JYP cafeteria and grabbed something to eat before resuming on working on songs. However, Jeongin soon realised that fun and novelty had an expiration date, as he was mentally being drained like an iPhone battery, the creative juices drying up. 

“Okay, so that’s six out of eight songs ready for the presentation tomorrow.” Seungmin stated, shuffling through a bunch of paper with pen scrawled all over it. Jeongin sat up abruptly, almost falling out of his seat. 

“Presentation? Oh, right... 3RACHA have a presentation to the board tomorrow, for the comeback...” Jeongin pressed his lips together in a thin line. “This is the one that determines if we can go through with our album, right?” Jeongin sighed, once they nodded apprehensively, probably confused why he would need to ask that. He’d never been to one of those presentations, all he knew was that, despite having had one for every single album they put out, his hyungs were nervous every single time. It must be a tough audience, Jeongin thought to himself. How could he face a crowd like that? 

“I always get jittery for these.” Minho chuckled, bouncing his leg up and down. “Good thing Jeongin-hyung is the one who does the talking.”

“Me?!” Jeongin spluttered. Of course, it was him. Chan was the one who always did the talking, and now he was Chan he had to take on this role too. Jeongin, who could barely speak on a red carpet without cringing at himself, was going to have to sell their album pitch to a room full of JYP suits who probably didn’t care about the actual music, just what would sell. Breathing in shakily, he assured himself they would be fine. Stray Kids have never been rejected before and he wasn’t going to let that be a first. 

It’s funny. Jeongin has seen the movies, he knew how these things went. He was stuck in a warp of reality where he was Stray Kids’ leader to teach him some kind of lesson, probably about respect or something, but so far his experience hadn’t been bad at all. If being BangChan for the day was supposed to be a punishment, the universe really had no clue. Letting out a yawn, Jeongin continued to work diligently, forcing his way through the next couple of songs. They were almost complete, there were just a few things missing, which Jeongin couldn’t put his finger on. It started to eat at him, as he replayed the music over and over and over until the sounds merged into one distortion in his brain. He decided to take a break, and go for a walk around the building, maybe see what the others were up to. Looking into one of the practice rooms, he spotted Changbin and Jisung practising choreography. Jisung was giving Changbin some pointers, the sight amusing to Jeongin at seeing Jisung be so technical with the moves the way Minho usually was. Moving on, he came across Felix and Hyunjin in the vocal room, practising singing while playing piano. 

“Sam, what’s the word in English that you said earlier? I tried looking it up but I couldn’t figure out how to spell it.” Felix admitted, playing with the keys of the instrument in front of him mindlessly. 

“Oh, _biccy_? It’s short for _biscuit_.” Felix stared at him blankly. “It’s a cookie.” Felix made a sound of realisation, nodding his head. 

“Wow, Australia has a lot of made up words, doesn’t it? _Slang words_.” Felix shook his head in wonder. “I guess Korean is the same.”

“Yeah, I still struggle with some Korean slang words, because it’s all just shortened versions of actual words. It trips me up every time.” Hyunjin admitted. 

Jeongin walked away from eavesdropping on the conversation, which left him feeling odd. Not just because it was weird to see Felix not know what _biccy_ meant, but also because the realisation was starting to sink in. It was all fun and games then, but did Jeongin want to be Chan for the rest of his life? He liked his life, he liked being Jeongin. Was he going to be stuck in this world forever? 

Jeongin returned to ~~Chan’s~~ his office, glumly falling into the desk chair. Glancing at the time to see it was soon reaching sunset, due to it being winter, he wanted to call it a day and go home, but stopped himself. Chan wouldn’t go home. Chan would stay well into the night, perfecting the songs to the best of his abilities. Filled with a burst of determination, Jeongin opened up the laptop that was in front of him, bringing up the songs he was working on earlier. Countless hours had passed, and Jeongin felt like his brain was on fire, but he’d finally done it. The songs were ready for the presentation. The question, though: was _Jeongin_ ready for the presentation? 

Finally, he allowed himself to go home, just in time for dinner. Jeongin felt like the day went far better than he expected it to, little did he know what was waiting for him when he got home. The second he entered their dorm, he could hear chattering from the living room. Taking off his shoes to replace them with home slippers, he went into the loud space to see almost everyone was there, save for Chan. A documentary was playing on the TV, yet they were all focused on Felix and Minho, who were both holding onto the remote controller with death grips. 

“Hey, give it back. I was here first.” Minho complained, tugging on the device but Felix wouldn’t relent. 

“You’ve been hogging it since we got back. I want to watch my drama!” Felix pulled harder, almost yanking Minho off the sofa. 

“You‘re always watching dramas, I want to watch the _National Geographic_! It’s fun and educational!” Minho grunted, kicking Felix by accident. 

Felix gasped. “Did you just kick me? Fine, take it, I don’t care anymore.” He let go abruptly, causing Minho to fall back harshly, before stalking into his room to sulk. Minho sighed, finding Felix’s theatrics tiresome. 

“Children.” Jeongin muttered under his breath, going into his room. He was so exhausted he felt like he could pass out, until he remembered he had to talk to Chan. Knocking on what used to be his room door, he heard someone say he could come in. “Hey.” Jeongin greeted closing the door behind him, and Chan sat up in ~~Jeongin’s~~ his bed. “About this morning-“

“Oh, yeah, I really am sorry for yesterday. I feel terrible for what I said, and for making you slip. Do you feel better now?”

“Ah, yeah I feel better now, but honestly, don’t worry about it. I know _exactly_ how you felt, and I understand.” Jeongin sat down on the end of his bed. “Although, my memory is a bit fuzzy. How did you make me slip?” If they had swapped, Chan would have been the one that slipped, right? 

“When... when we were rehearsing. You told me to go home, and I said no, and we had that whole back and forth, then you called everyone to run through the dance again and... I was shouting stuff at you, then you slipped and hit your head...” Chan’s voice trailed off at the end, embarrassedly. 

Jeongin held back a scoff. So, in both realities, he ends up with his face on the ground. Typical. “It’s okay Chan-hyung- I mean, Chan...” It felt almost illegal for him to call him that. “It’s my fault anyway, I was being unreasonable.”

“No, I was!” Chan insisted. “I should have just listened to you, and not made it into a bigger deal than it needed to be. I guess I’m a bit stubborn.”

“I think we’re both a bit stubborn.” Jeongin admitted, Chan’s words setting a bigger impact on him than he wished it would. “Maybe we both were in the wrong. I could have spoken more respectfully instead of making it a thing about my age, and you could have maybe not pushed your authority as much as you did.” 

Chan paused. “Don’t you mean the other way around?”

Jeongin blinked. “Right. Anyway, come. Let’s go eat dinner.” 

Expecting the kitchen to be full of the members bustling around, they were shocked to see it was empty. Jeongin told Chan to stay there while he ventured into the rooms to see where everyone was. Going into his own room, he saw Hyunjin and Seungmin were in their respective beds. “Hey, you two. Come eat dinner.”

“Not if Yongbok and Minho are there. They’re still ignoring each other and I don’t want to be in the middle of that awkward tension.” Hyunjin shuddered, scrolling his thumb across his phone. 

“Still? Since when do those two even argue?” Jeongin mumbled, before he remembered. Felix was Hyunjin and Minho was Jisung. But, still, it’s not like Hyunjin and Jisung argued like that anymore. What could have changed? Jeongin went into the next room, to find Felix in his bed and under the covers. Jeongin exchanged a look with Changbin and then Jisung who both either shrugged or waved it off. “Felix- I mean, Yongbok... are you okay?” There was no reply. Jeongin didn’t know what to do. Usually if there was an argument, Chan stepped in and tried to resolve it. Sure, the others have come to him to rant or gain advice but he’d never really had to find a solution for an active argument between two of them. Especially not something as petty as who got to watch TV. 

“Hyung, look.” Jisung brought him out of his thoughts. Since Jeongin did have a younger brother, and was older than his classmates, it wasn’t totally strange for him to be called hyung. Well, not if he didn’t think about any of the members calling him it. “Aren’t they cute?”

Jeongin squinted at Jisung’s phone screen, seeing a picture of three puppies lined up and their noses almost touching the camera. “Very cute. Whose are they?”

Jisung pulled his phone back, his face solemn. “Is that a joke?” Jeongin stared at him, lost. “They’re _my_ dogs. Soni, Doni, and Dora. Wow, you have no interest in me at all.” Jisung mumbled with a soft scowl, going back to cooing at the pictures his mother sent him. Jeongin sighed, leaving the room to find Minho. The boy in question was in the living room, still watching the _National Geographic_ , this time with a bowl of ramen. 

“You’re still watching that?” Minho turned to acknowledge Jeongin with a nod. “Why are you and Yongbok still fighting? Is whoever gets the TV that important?” 

Minho hummed, questioningly. “Well, yes. But also, I don’t know. We’ve just always fought like that. He either gets over it and starts talking to me again, or vice versa. That’s just how we work.” 

“I thought you two grew out of that?” Jeongin raised an eyebrow. Minho just took in another mouthful of noodles and Jeongin kissed his teeth in annoyance, walking out. “Looks like it’s just us two.” He told Chan, opening one of the refrigerators in the kitchen. 

“Yeah, I figured as much.” Chan chuckled, going into one of the cupboards to look for something to eat. Jeongin chewed on his bottom lip in contemplation. Was he doing the wrong thing, by not trying to get involved? Getting involved was Chan’s thing, he liked to come in and save the day. Jeongin, not so much. Conflict wasn’t his forte, and the idea of having to deal with pre-debut Hyunjin and Jisung personalities was enough to put him off his dinner. Chan always said that being a leader was more than just leading an ensemble, but it hadn’t clicked in Jeongin’s head exactly what that meant. There were times where Chan just knew what to do, and what to say, how to deal with things. There was a thing called _Mother’s Instinct_ , well, Jeongin was convinced Chan had _Leader’s Instinct_. Stays were right, he really was the best leader. Jeongin glanced over at Chan, who was looking for the expiration date on the back of some packaged meat they had in another refrigerator. Maybe being a leader wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. 

Jeongin tapped his fingers against the table nervously, causing a tapping sound to ring through the air. Seungmin gave him a look, causing Jeongin to apologise and bring his hands to his lap. He just wanted to get it over with. The door to the board room slid open, around five to six men in suits entering in single file, ending with JYP, in a black turtleneck, right at the end. The boys stood up and bowed politely, before JYP asked them to begin their presentation. Here goes everything, Jeongin thought, clearing his throat. “Yes, hello, today I would like to, um, introduce you to our new album concept. I mean, introduce our new album to you. The concept. This is, this is something we came up with...” Jeongin didn’t know when they came up with it. In fact, Jeongin didn’t know anything about the album except for everything they worked on the day before. “...well, we came up with it recently. And, uh, it’s an album that I’m very proud of...” He trailed off, noting their bored faces. 

“Move on to the songs.” Minho murmured, and Jeongin rushed to play the first track. “You have to tell them the name of the song and why it’s included in the album.” Minho elaborated, pausing the song quickly. Jeongin wanted to break down into tears. He was totally out of his depth, so far out from shore that he felt like he was drowning. The presentation came to an end, and so did all of Jeongin’s confidence. As if the actual presentation part wasn’t already enough of a train wreck, the board decided to push the date back because they felt like the songs weren’t ready or developed enough. The worst part was, Jeongin agreed. In hindsight, he realised he might not have put enough time into the final songs. He tried his best, but ultimately he hadn’t taken it as seriously as he should have. Jeongin could tell Minho and Seungmin were disappointed, as much as they tried not to show it. Defeatedly, he trudged out of the board room with a heavy heart. He didn’t want to be the leader anymore. He didn’t know how Chan did it. He managed everything, every single aspect of their careers, while helping maintain harmony amongst the members. As much as he hated eating his own words, Jeongin couldn’t deny that Chan was an amazing leader and he did way more than Jeongin realised. He definitely took it for granted.  
Not in the mood to do anything but go home and sleep, that’s exactly what Jeongin did. Or, what he planned to do. Gathering himself up, Jeongin left the JYP Entertainment building and started walking the way to their dorm. However, he was so lost in his thoughts and self pity that he hadn’t realised there was a massive pole waiting for him to walk into it. As expected, the inevitable happened, and Jeongin felt a ringing through his ears as he fell back onto the pavement due to the impact, his vision blackening. 

“Jeongin, wake up!”

Inhaling an audible gasp, Jeongin sat up, his chest beating radically. Blinking, he confirmed that he was in the practice room, sitting on the floor with his members surrounding him. Chan was crouched beside him. “Are you okay? You were unresponsive for a few minutes, I almost called an ambulance or something.” 

“Yeah, I think I’m okay...” Jeongin breathed, taking in everyone’s reactions. He paused, feeling hopeful. “Hyung?”

“Yes?” They all said in a chorus, and Jeongin burst into a relieved grin. Laughingly, he picked himself up from the floor, rubbing at his face, glad that the entire thing really was just a dream. Seungmin watched him with concern. “Hey, take it easy.” 

Spinning around to find Chan, Jeongin pulled the older boy into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so so sorry I ever took you for granted. You’re the best leader we could have ever asked for, and I’m sorry I disrespected you. It will never happen again. You were just looking out for me, I understand that now. Please forgive me, hyung.” 

Perplexed, Chan slowly hugged Jeongin back, blinking rapidly at the others who were just as confused. “That’s okay Innie, but I think you might have seriously bumped your head, so I’m going to call a doctor. Is that okay? You’re right, just because I’m the leader and the oldest doesn’t mean I can order you to do things, rather than speak to you like a normal person. I’ll try to be mindful of this in the future.” Jeongin smiled and Chan smiled back. 

“Alright, I have no idea what’s happening, but Changbin has fallen asleep again, so I think we should all call it a night.” Minho clapped his hands together with finality, before going over to shake the sleeping boy awake, while everyone else gathered their things. 

Still smiling in content, Jeongin shook his head at himself. Guess the universe did have some kind of clue, what it was doing. Jeongin was glad that the events of that night happened, even if he felt like his nose was broken. He was able to _literally_ put himself in someone else’s shoes, making him realise that whether you’re the youngest, or the oldest, the middle child or an only child, we all had our own struggles that no one would understand until they experienced it themselves. Now, Jeongin had experienced almost every single one, and he could safely say, he didn’t mind being the maknae so much. After all, he was Yang Jeongin. He would always be the _maknae on top_.

“Wait!” He called out, as everyone was starting to leave while he was doing his internal monologue. “My head does hurt a bit, I don’t know if I have the strength to walk.”

“Ah, poor Innie. Come here, I’ll carry you on my back.” Changbin rushed over, at the same time Chan was making his way to help carry him too, Jeongin smirking to himself as he winked at an imaginary camera.


End file.
